PINE FAMILY 



flowers minute, globose, consisting of four to six stamens arranged 

 upon a short axis ; filaments scale-like, bearing anther cells. Pistil- 

 late flowers small, oblong, or ovoid ; scales eight to twelve, oblong, 

 acute; reddish, the central or lower fertile, bearing two to four 

 ovules. 



Fruit. — Cone, ripening first season. Pale cinnamon brown, erect, 

 oblong, one-third to one-half of an inch long ; scales six to twelve, 

 obtuse. Seed one-eighth of an inch long, winged. 



This tree is commonly called Arborvita, sometimes White 

 Cedar, and the Indians of New York call it, Oo-soo-ha-tah — 

 "Feather-leaf." The leaves are evergreen, arranged in four 

 rows in alternately opposite pairs, completely covering and 

 in fact seeming to make up the fan-like branchlets. They 

 are scale-like, each lower pair covering the base of the pair 

 above. The branchlets which they cover are arranged in a 

 single plane as if they were parts of one large, flat, compound 

 leaf. These planes are variously inclined to the horizon, often 

 vertical, and form a marked peculiarity of the tree. The 

 leaves when bruised exhale a very agreeable, aromatic, resin- 

 ous odor. 



The Arborvitae has been extensively cultivated as an or- 

 namental tree for at least a century, and nearly fifty varieties 

 are recorded. The tree is so formal in outline that it rarely 

 harmonizes with other trees. Its form seems the result of 

 clipping shears but in reality it is its nature to look artificial. 

 It has merits. Because of the density of its foliage, it will 

 form a close leafy screen more effectually than any other 

 evergreen. It is tolerant of many and diverse conditions of 

 hot, cold, wet and dry, bears the knife well, and makes excel- 

 lent hedges. During the early winter it stands up bright and 

 green, during the weather changes of March and April it ap- 

 pears very brown, ragged, and discouraged, but all this is 

 atoned for when the golden green spray starts from every 

 leafy branch, and it responds to the influences of another 

 spring. 



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